Man gets 23 years for planning to kill Makkah emir

Riyadh: The special criminal court in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh has given a 23-year jail term to a militant accused of plotting the assassination of the emir, media reported on Tuesday.

The convict was one of 17 sentenced to jail by the court on Monday, local media reported. The convicts belonged to two terror groups.

The plot to kill the emir involved targeting him with a laser device while he met students at a university graduation ceremony. The militant, however, abandoned the plot following a change in the emir’s schedule.

The charges against the convict also included sending two bags full of weapons from Riyadh to Dammam, travelling to Jordan to hand over $250,000 (Dh918,250) to an Al Qaida terrorist who was operating from Iraq, entering Iraq with a fake passport to meet an Al Qaida leader, and travelling abroad to meet a Syrian to make investments worth $100 million in Saudi Arabia so that its profits could be used for terror funding.

Another terror suspect was sentenced 20 years in jail and a travel ban was imposed on him after his conviction in several crimes, including travelling to conflict zones in Chechnya and taking part in fighting.